Saturday night was not a good one for 3 NYC Subway train operators who were attacked in separate incidents that occurred within a short time frame.

The unfortunate events first began in Manhattan where a train operator was punched by a lowlife who opened his cab door at the Essex Street station. Dan Rivoli of the New York Daily News has more in this report:

A trio of subway riders went wild on the rails Saturday night, attacking train operators in separate incidents, union and transit officials said Monday.

The first attack happened on the J train at the Essex St. station around 8:30 p.m., when a man opened the train operator’s cab door and slugged him in the head.

The thug fled and the transit worker was taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital, where he was treated and released.

Later, at 9:19 p.m., an unruly rider at the Euclid Ave. stop in East New York hurled a beer can at a train operator, hitting him in the right arm.

The indignities against transit workers that night continued at 10:15 p.m. when a man spit on an operator’s face while inside the Court Square station on the G line.

Police and EMS went to the scene and took the train operator to Mount Sinai Hospital.

I strongly concur with the sentiments shared by Transport Workers Union Local 100 vice president Kevin Harrington who noted “All too often, transit employees feel alone, without protection as they do their jobs in an all too hostile environment that is often a dumping zone for the mentally ill or a home for street criminals”.

While our elected officials did something good by increasing punishment for crimes against transit workers, it still does not seem like such incidents are enforced enough to make it a deterrent to the people who commit these crimes.

Growing up in a transit family and seeing first hand what attacks do to such vulnerable employees, I strongly urge that they get better protection in the system as anything less is completely unacceptable.